Man-made disasters are the result of carelessness or human errors during technological and industrial use. The disasters are in the form of accidents, which occur all of a sudden and take a huge toll on life and property. Mostly such disasters cause injuries, diseases and casualties where they occur.

Man-made disasters are mainly of two types:

Local disasters:

These are small-scale disasters such as train accidents, plane crashes and shipwrecks.

Industrial and technological disasters:

These are much larger in scale and are the result of technology failures or industrial accidents. Such disasters affect both local population and may even cover a much larger area. Industrial disasters result due to accidental leakage of water or air pollutants. Many of the chemicals are extremely toxic and carcinogenic which affect the human population in an adverse way. Some people die instantly while others are crippled for whole life in the form of blindness, paralysis and many other chronic diseases.

Impact on the environment:

Leakage of toxic chemicals from the industries and accidents in the nuclear reactors has short-term and long-term effects on the environment and human health. Short-term effects on human health relate to casualties and diseases like blindness, cancer, paralysis, heart trouble, gastric and respiratory abnormalities. Long-term effects include genetic imbalances in humans and its impact on the future generations. Soil and water sources also remain polluted for long durations of time.

Prevention, control and mitigation:

Man-made disasters can be minimized to a large extent by adopting the following measures:

1. Proper training of personnel working in the hazardous industries.

2. Proper maintenance and care of safety measures.

3. Removing human encroachments around hazardous industries.

4. Making the people aware about the first-aid methods in case of accidents.

5. Applying